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Former Little Rock Banker Sentenced For Fraud

Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A former Little Rock Banker was sentenced Wednesday to two years and six months in prison for bank fraud, money laundering and a Social Security violation, the U.S. attorney’s office in Little Rock said.

Kelly Harbert, former vice president and commercial loan officer and later senior vice president of One Bank and Trust, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Little Rock, said Christopher Thyer, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

In addition to her prison sentence, Harbert was ordered to pay a total of $441,912 to seven financial institutions. Her prison sentence is to be followed by one year of supervised release.

Harbert pleaded guilty to the charges in January. She originally was indicted on 22 counts but pleaded guilty to three in a plea deal.

Thyer said Harbert admitted that she obtained loans and lines of credit under false pretenses, including using the names and personal information of her parents and her bank’s clients, and used the loans and credit to convert funds to her personal use. She obtained the loans and credit from her own bank, where she was authorized to approve unsecured loans up to $50,000, and from other Little Rock banks.

She also admitted that she committed money laundering through deposits and transfers from one account to another and that she knowingly used another person’s Social Security number to commit fraud, Thyer said.

The FBI, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service conducted the investigation.